要 — need / essential

Grade 4よう, い, かなめ

Radical ⾑ · radical 146 The building block this kanji is filed under

要 (readings: よう, い, かなめ; Japanese kanji) means “need / essential”. It is a Grade 4 Kyōiku kanji, taught in year 4 of Japanese elementary school, and appears in words such as 重要 (important).

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What does 要 mean?

Full details, readings & example

Kanji	要
Meaning	need / essential
Readings	よう, い, かなめ
Grade	Grade 4 (Upper)
Curriculum	Kyōiku kanji · Japanese elementary school
Example	重要 (important)

How to read 要

要 is read よう or い or かなめ depending on the word.

Words with 要

重要じゅうようquan trọng
必要ひつようcần thiết
重要性じゅうようせいtầm quan trọng
要求yêu cầu
需要nhu cầu
要旨đại ý
概要khái quát

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Updated: 2026-08-09